Thursday, June 23, 2011

After a ridiculously long break, the team fortress team finally gives us the "Meet the Medic" video. I really love these shorts because it establishes so much character development for a game so devoid of any meaningful plot, and I love it that way.

I especially love the characters in the waiting room at the end, how the soldier is standing at attention and the pyro is burning a magazine with a lighter, it really makes it feel like the characters are alive. It also proves that the medic is batshit insane as I thought.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Apparently Miyamoto confirmed that the screened controller will go solo, meaning that we won't have to worry about buying more than one of them. It will surely be bundled with the system, because I'm sure a controller like that would be way too expensive on its own. It'll continue to use wii motes and classic controllers for multiplayer stuff. I suppose the "U" part of Wii U really is embodied in the single touch screen controller.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

You have to watch this, the animation is amazing. It's got a real sense of style and it's so fluid. And there's *cough* fanservice *cough* too. I really wish more movies looked like this. This kinda makes me excited for kung fu panda 2

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Big N, Nintendo that is, gave their presentation this morning and I must say, it revived some of my fanboyism from my high school days. I've been a lover of all things Nintendo since I was 4 years old, so I won't even try to hide my bias, but I did want a little of my fervor to die down before I wrote this article, so I'll try to present to you the facts first, and you can ignore my interpretation at the end if you choose to do so. A stream of the conference can be found here. Without further ado:

Nintendo went for a balance between hardware and software this time around, but the major headliner here has been the target of rumors for months. Namely project cafe. Speculation of the device produced several concept devices that ended up not being that far from the mark:

Nintendo officially revealed the true nature of the console today:

Stating a desire to no longer pander only to the casual gaming crowd, Reggie Fils-aime described the addition of "u" as literally meaning "you," as in the solo player. The Wii U (a clever pun because it sounds like Wii 2) will not only deliver an HD console experience but allow you to transfer that experience to the screen on the controller, allowing one person to not completely dominate a TV during their play time. But there's more. The tablet acts almost like the second DS screen when playing games, and can give you inventories, maps, multiplayer personal screens, the possibilities seem endless. Here's a list of all the features of the controller:

Resitive Touch pad (stylus useable)

Two Circle Pads

Microphone

Front Facing Camera

Two Shoulder pads, two triggers

Capable of interacting with anything bearing the wii name

Accelerometer

6.2 inch screen

No pricing info yet, but I can imagine these controllers are going to be ridiculously expensive, and there isn't any footage of multiple of these working together. The Wii U console looks similar to the Wii, but much rounder:

It's rather difficult to simply explain all the things it can do, you really have to watch the conference for yourself. Now onto games:

Alot of nintendo's flagship titles are coming back, along with a few surprises:
Kid Icarus (3DS)

And Iwata mentioned a Smash Bros that would play on 3DS AND WiiU, though no footage or images were show.
And these are just first party titles. Needless to say, I will be buying all of these. Nintendo has also promised a whole slew of things from Ninja Gaiden to Socom to Metal Gear Solid from third party developers.

Nothing concrete yet, but you can expect to see games like these to be appearing on all three platforms equally after WiiU is released.

Bias aside, it's clear that Nintendo dominated this year's E3, but that's not to say that Wii U will not have any hurdles to jump over. Nintendo damaged it's identity with many core gamers so it has to work through that first. The 3DS was a step in the right direction and this is too. There are alot of naysayers saying the tablet is just a gimmick like motion controls were before, but I think they fail to see the possibilities that can be done with such a device. I, being an aspiring game designer, am absolutely giddy about the things you might be able to do. This could completely eliminate the screen looking problem in local multiplayer, or you could integrate the tablet so that certain clues in a mystery game appear on it only, etc., etc. In the early years, expect to see the tablet being used mainly for inventories and maps, but Nintendo generally knows what it's doing when it introduces new hardware like this. It's almost as if Nintendo makes first party games to show other developers how many different ways their things can be used.

But you may have noticed that the controller bears an eerie similarity to the PSVita. While people obviously won't be buying that device to use it as a controller, Sony has mentioned that a player could transfer the game they are playing on a PS3 directly to the PSVita and continue elsewhere. Who's to say that Sony won't follow suit with this tablet idea and allow the PSVita the same kind of integration with its console counterpart?

I am extremely excited for all of these, this is very much so one of those

moments. This holiday season and next year are going to be interesting times in gaming.

My evaluation of E3 this year? Definitely did not disappoint, but I do wish I could've seen more from Microsoft, the Kinect has so much potential that is being wasted right now. And for once, Sony might convince me to buy one of their handhelds. Only time will tell though, in the meantime I'll just keep giggling to myself about how excited I am for Nintendo games.

Thanks for reading my coverage of E3, if you liked my thoughts, recommend this blog to your friends and share the love.

Microsoft had their conference in the morning, while Sony went up next yesterday evening. Sony's focus, being a hardware company usually comes down to hardware and this year is no exception. The NGP, or next gen portable has been in the buzz news for a while but only now does it officially have a name:

Meet the PSVita

Technically, we've already seen what it looks like. What Sony announced that was actually important was the price. Considering the trend set by the PS3, the price for the PSVita is a rather reasonable $249, while the 3G version will be $299. I find this price reasonable because the PSVita is essentially a portable PS3. Like seriously, gameplay vids look exactly like a PS3. You may be wondering how this is possible, but the PS3 was released almost 6 years ago. Technology moves fast and in reality, current technology would probably allow for a much more powerful handheld, but not at a decent consumer price.

The specs for the system include an OLED screen (which are amazing by the way, I have one on my phone and it gives me 1080p HD resolution), GPS, two cameras (I assume for some 3D purpose), sixaxis control, and two touchpads (the nub like control sticks). The thing that sets this system apart from the PSP is not just the screen quality, it's the dual sticks that make the difference. With two sticks, playing an FPS in the standard console way is now possible. It's rather disappointing that it took Sony this long to put two sticks on a handheld. Nintendo never needed to because no one buys Nintendo systems to play FPS, but that's a pretty large market on Sony's side.

Sony also released a playstation branded TV that will allow a 3D display through the use of Stereoscopic glasses.

Now to the games; Sony's major announcements include:

Assassin's Creed Revelations (absolutely beautiful trailer):

Resistance 3:

Uncharted 3:

HD rerelease of the PSP god of war game

Sly Cooper: Thieves in time

One thing you might notice is that nothing was really announced on the game side for the PSVita. While Street Fighter X Tekken is confirmed (with Cole from Infamous joining the fray), so far the PSVita, dare I say, has no games. There was mention of a bioshock title, which is pretty intriguing, but it's only rumor at this point. The major problem here is that no matter how good the console, if there are no games to play with it, no one will want to buy it. The 3DS is suffering that problem right now (although I expect it to get better with the opening of the eShop and Ocarina of time 3d coming out soon). The PSP AND PS3 suffered from that problem as well. Hopefully Sony has learned their lesson by now and will release the PSVita with a strong lineup, otherwise it will be doomed to mediocrity in the shadow of its Nintendo counterpart.

Overall, my impressions for this conference are pretty good. The PSVita wasn't much a surprise, but the pricing is. I might actually consider picking one up, I mean I already dropped that amount for a 3DS. However, once again, I'll wait to see the starting lineup of games before I make a purchase, it'll also be good if the system can play PSP games, because then I'll finally get to play Birth by Sleep. I'm looking forward to AC:Revelations, although I really hope they'll be done with Ezio's story after this, because I really want to see what setting they go to next. The announcement of Uncharted 3 makes me want to get Uncharted 2. The first game in the series was bunded with the PS3 so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was a pretty awesome game, but I never worked up the money/ the urge to buy the second. Maybe that'll change. The most surprising thing announced is the new Sly Cooper, while I haven't actually played the games myself (i've seen them played) I always love when older series from my childhood get rebooted. It's the old series that tend to have the best gameplay and tight controls. They also have a definite aesthetic that is generally extremely charming over the muddy realism that has forced its way into the gaming spotlight for some reason.

Monday, June 6, 2011

That's right it's that time again. This year's E3 is in full swing and Microsoft steps up to the plate first. For those who don't know, E3 is the Electronic Entertainment Expo and it gives an opportunity for video game companies to debut their big projects. It's a yearly event open to press only and is pretty important since announcements like these actually can have an effect on a company's stock predictions. But back to Microsoft.

You can find a stream of the conference here:
http://e3.gamespot.com/press-conference/microsoft-e3/index.html

Here's a summary of the major things they announced:
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
Halo 4
Mass Effect 3
The New Tomb Raider

Overall, I'm not really that impressed. While this lineup isn't necessarily bad, it's extremely mediocre. I am excited for Mass Effect 3, but at the end of the day it's just another sequel that everyone already knew about. Here's the Halo 4 trailer if you're interested:

Now obviously, Microsoft's main focus this time around was Kinect games.

But once again, Dance Central is the only one that shows any promise of actually being fun. The star wars game looks interesting, but it just comes down to being an on-rails hack and slash with unresponsive controls. In the video demoing the game, the responsiveness of the character to body commands is a little better than I expected, but still subpar. Games today should have tight controls that make you feel like you're totally in control. Every time an action you perform fails to register properly, you'll be taken out of the experience, and that is a very bad thing for a game peripheral devoted to integrating your body and mind into the experience. The main problem with the Kinect is that there aren't any game designers who can figure out what to with the damn thing. To put it simply, Kinect is ahead of its time. It's actually a really powerful device, but we won't see anything besides dance games and on-rails adventures or shooters for a long time.

Many games are going to be featuring Kinect support, including Mass Effect 3, which will allow you to voice out dialogue options and teammate commands (which might actually be useful). Minecraft is going to be interesting on the 360. It'll definitely make everyone forget about the cheap knockoff that is FortressCraft. However, Minecraft is still technically not finished on PC. Given Microsoft's somewhat strict control over the amount of free updates a single game can do and the lack of mod support on a console, Minecraft on the 360 might have a tough upward hill to climb.

The one game I am really excited for though, is the new tomb raider. Lara's getting yet another reboot, but this time they're going for a much more realistic approach.

No longer will we see a supermodel back flipping through the jungle without a scratch, the character is much grittier this time, forced to brave the brutality of nature using only her instincts and intelligence. This might be a Lara croft game I actually buy.

Overall, the opening to this E3 is pretty meh, and I mean that seriously. I expect much more from Nintendo and Sony.

Update: Can't believe I forgot to mention Skyrim, ya that's coming out to, but once again, we already knew about it. Speaking of Skyrim:

Sunday, June 5, 2011

That's right nyan cat, if you haven't seen it already, there are plenty of ways to fix that:

and while this one is a little off in the face and the body is toast, it still is an entire site devoted to nyan cat:http://nyan.cat/

So what exactly is nyan cat besides the horribly cute demon offspring of a strawberry (cherry? nobody likes those) poptart and a cat? Well it's an internet phenomenon that popped up this year. It went viral extremely quickly due to it's almost hypnotic nature. In all likelihood this is somewhat of a derivative of speedycat (make sure you click on the moon), which popped up on the interwebz along time ago (around 2006). It really just proves that flying cats set to a catchy song will automatically go viral, I can't help but wonder what will show up next. If you want more info on nyan cat or speedycat, check out their pages on Know Your Meme:http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nyan-cat-pop-tart-cat#.Tes890fff-chttp://knowyourmeme.com/memes/speedycat#.Tes9Ikfff-c